Share this:

We are having a contest on who can best guess the 49ers draft pick for the first day of the draft. The 49ers are looking at coming up with a prize. If that fails, we could at least have the winner be the 49ers Insider for a day. Meaning they will start off the discussion and we’ll forage for supporting photos. By the way, here are some changes for this year’s draft.

- Rounds 1-2 will now take place on the first day of the draft (April 26). Previously, the first three rounds of the draft were conducted on Saturday.

- The time allocated for each pick in Round 1 will now be 10 minutes instead of 15 minutes, while the time limit for Round 2 shortens to seven minutes from 10 minutes.

- The first day of the draft begins later on Saturday, starting at 12:00 PM PST rather than 9:00 AM ET.

- Round 3 will be moved to Sunday and remain at five minutes per selection.

- The draft on Sunday (Rounds 3-7) will now begin at 7:00 AM PST rather than 8:00 AM PST.

Once a prize is determined, we’ll go with the rules, so don’t change that URL.

Now on to the yesterday’s posts.

JSL is absolutely right by correcting me – Justin Smith is the right end, not the left.

Thanks also to Reno for noting that Houston Texan Mario Williams was slowed his rookie season by a foot injury.

Kmac535 asked about Frank Gore’s weight. He is listed at 5-9, 223 and certainly his strength and power add to his ability to break tackles and carry defenders, which he did consistently last season, despite his dip in production from 2006.

Spitblood doesn’t like the “edges” philosophy. He wrote that a quarterback can’t get the ball to the “edges” if he’s on his back. Getting the ball to the outside has nothing to do with being strong on the “edges.”

Edges is where the pass rush typically comes from. The edge is where cornerbacks are, and they are crucial. The edge is where the left tackle resides. Other than quarterback, left tackle, outside pass rusher and corner are the highest paid positions in the league.

Guards and centers aren’t taken in the top half of the first round for a reason. They’re not as valuable as the aforementioned positions.

Also, the game is increasingly about the pass. Seventy percent (or so) of the top 50 college programs run some sort of spread, shotgun scheme, which will eventually make outside pass rushers and cornerbacks and offensive tackles even more valuable.

However, Blood’s take on trading back makes great sense. Two things to consider: Not every team values picks the same way. The 49ers revamped that chart a few years ago and trades are becoming trickier because teams now assign different point values to picks.

Additionally, it will take more to move back, because everyone recognizes the draft is deep.

Cbass49 suggested that the hard-headed Michael Robinson be moved to fullback. I asked about that last year, and was told the team likes him where he is. They should re-consider.

As many of you have noted, fullbacks get only part-time work. So Robinson could handle that job as well as his special teams duties.

Tonedog2 asked about getting numbers for Marques Douglas’s contract and I will try to do that.

WoodenTaco – great research on runs inside the guards. I didn’t think that Footballoutsiders.com had posted that information yet. Thanks.

Skeebars gets the award for the best word in yesterday’s post – scimitar. I just looked up the word the day before. I looked it up again today and there are competing definitions. It’s a curved saber, but Oxford said it was Asian, while Websters said it was used mainly by Arabs and Turks.

Good to see a post by Marcos, even if it was only about tomatoes.

For those still curious, Mike Martz had a fullback on the roster every year he was in St. Louis.

Remember these names? Robert Holcomb, James Hodgins, and Joey Goodspeed were just some of the fullbacks Martz used. In Detroit he used more of a tight end as a fullback, but Sean McHugh lined up as a fullback often, particularly against the 49ers in 2006.